Internet-Based Next-Generation Broadband Networks
Squire Sanders’ communications regulatory practice predates the Internet. Our lawyers participated in all major proceedings before the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the European Union that built the foundation upon which the evolving regulatory treatment of the Internet and broadband next-generation networks is based. We continue to play a major role in the debate over the preservation of an unregulated Internet and the regulatory status of Internet Protocol (IP)-based communications systems, representing clients before regulatory agencies in the Americas, Europe and Asia, along with the International Telecommunication Union and other international bodies. We assist governments and regulatory authorities in their development of Internet policies and regulations and their application to voice, data, video and other IP-based communications services that historically have been subject to their own regulatory structures. We also act as chair for the network neutrality workshop at the annual European Competitive Telecommunications Association regulatory conference in Brussels.
Our clients include high-profile, unregulated information and Internet service providers, as well as associations formed to further their interests. We have advised public and private-sector clients regarding the appropriate regulatory treatment of Internet services and applications including Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services. We also have helped Internet service providers and their customers negotiate financing and service agreements. In the United States, our communications lawyers have counseled clients through the distinction between regulated “basic” and unregulated “enhanced” services, structural separation of regulated and unregulated activities, and other competitive safeguards. More recently, we have advised clients on the regulatory distinction between “telecommunications” and “information” services and the shifting classifications of IP-based communications services within this dichotomy. Elsewhere around the world, we have addressed similar global issues on behalf of multinational operators, as well as more client-specific matters such as the licensing of value-added service providers, network access and interconnection.